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It’s harvest time in vegetable garden. These days, home gardeners are harvesting not only for food but for seeds to sow next year. Seed saving is a burgeoning hobby. Our grandparents assumed they would save seeds from their vegetables because seeds were expensive and hard to find, especially the heirlooms brought to this country by their own grandparents. Somehow along the way most of us got out of the habit of saving seeds and just spent money each year buying new packets at the local garden center or from a catalog. Seed companies, of course, promoted this practice and scientists developed hybrid plants whose seed …

NORTHAMPTON — Members of Girl Scout Brownie Troop 12960 got a backstage look Saturday at what it takes to mount a major equestrian event by spending time in the stables of the Morgan Horse Show in Northampton. …

Fairies have long captured the imagination of children and adults. Who can forget James M. Barrie’s evocative words in “Peter Pan”: “Do you believe in fairies? Say quick that you believe in fairies. If you believe, clap your hands.” Even Shakespeare wrote about fairies with Titania, Oberon and Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s …

From the outside, Dennis and Annick Porter’s 1893 late-Victorian home in Amherst seems a typical design for that era. But step into the couple’s newly renovated kitchen and one is transported forward for a very modern living experience. …

Gardeners are usually generous people who are happy to share plants and seeds, garden experience and advice. We all treasure the daylily from mother’s garden or the primrose from our friend Sally’s garden or the strawberry or raspberry …

For Bill Flynt, Historic Deerfield’s lead architectural conservator, exploring one of Old Deerfield’s 18th-century buildings is like stepping into a time machine. That’s the experience he aims to give the museum’s visitors, but many of the buildings have …

Thomas Jefferson was an avid gardener but he was more interested in scientific experiments than in spectacular successes. That was one of the facts about our third president that Peter Hatch, head gardener at Monticello for 35 years, …

Someone suggested that I write the annual getting-ready-for-winter column early this year because the last time I did, we had a mild one. There’s so much to say about winter preparation that it will likely take more than one column, so we’ll start with something that brings nightmares …

In the bleak midwinter when snow blankets the ground nothing is more cheerful than a pot of bright daffodils or tulips. They seem to promise that spring is just around the corner. You can certainly go to the …

Cozying up in a favorite sweater is one of the distinct pleasures of autumn. This fall, designers and retailers are stitching up sweater motifs on an array of home décor. So while you’re wrapping yourself in a big, …

Feeling cramped but don’t want to move? There many ways to make small seem spacious. Embracing a “less is more” mindset is even trendy, with micro homes attracting macro interest on social media and on TV. Granted, your home is likely larger than a true “tiny house,” which …

If you or someone you know is planning work on a pre-1978 home, please make time to take precautions against the possibility of lead poisoning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that about 500,000 U.S children ages 1 to 5 have elevated lead levels in their …

Richard Silvers grew up admiring the palatial white mansion at 1830 Beechwood Blvd. in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill, never imagining he might live there. But fate intervened, and when the home came up for sale in 2002, he and …